Family Trip to the Zoo

graceful giraffes

Abbie wanted to push the stroller

Sophie, Daddy and Nana all took turns feeding the lorikeets. They are so beautiful!!

This past weekend was just beautiful! Especially for the end of August. I wish this weather would stay around all through the fall. We decided that it would be a perfect day to go to the zoo. Nana and Uncle Walter came with us and we all had a great time! Abbie enjoyed taking turns riding in the stroller, riding on Uncle Walter's shoulders, being carried or walking (while pushing the stroller-this didn't last long). Many of the animals were awake and very active so we enjoyed our visit. We don't usually stop in and visit the lorikeets so we enjoyed seeing them and it was something different.

Squeezing it All In

Sophie & Abbie C.

Sophie & Carley in the treehouse at the Discovery Center

Carley & Sophie playing train conductors

Abbie sitting up in a big antique truck

Well, the summer is almost over and I sort of have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it's sort of nice to just "go with the flow" and not have a schedule. You can schedule play dates for any day (as long as the other family is free which can be tricky at times). On the other hand though, sometimes it does become challenging to keep your kids busy particularly on those days when it is really hot. Thankfully, we haven't had as many of those this summer.

This past Wednesday, we were able to get together with my friend, Jamie, and her daughter, Abbie. Abbie started kindergarten the next day so we got in a visit just before that started. She is crazy about babies and so she loves little Abbie. She and Sophie had a great time playing together at Chick-Fil-A and at our house.

Then, on Friday, we had a really fun play date with several of our friends. We were able to go to the Discovery Center with Carley & Jessie, Nathan & Ella, and then we invited another friend, Ella (big Ella) and her little sister Sara. The interesting thing was my friends didn't know each other but the play date just sort of grew and we have kids that are similar ages. It was a beautiful day on Friday with just a few little sprinkles and a brief shower. The Discovery Center has just opened a really neat new section with a play post office, music room (these are all very small little rooms), small kitchen and laundry, grocery store, and a special new area just for kids under 2 to move around in. All of our kids had a blast! Sophie loved the new Post office, playing with the fire truck and the firemen's "gear", many other of the stations upstairs. Abbie particularly loved the water play area, the big antique truck and helping Sophie work on the car upstairs. I didn't do a very good job of capturing all of the children's pictures but they were kind of all over the place because there were so many things to do!! =)

Afterwards, we had a picnic lunch outside, fed the ducks and checked out the playground, fountains, etc.

Horsin' Around

Sophie on our new rocking unicorn

It's Abbie's turn! Abbie loves to stand in the tunnels and then pop out and surprise you!


The girls have a new toy-a rocking unicorn, given to them by Aunt Linda. It was something that she didn't want anymore and she offered it to us. I want to call it a rocking horse because it even makes galloping sounds like a horse. It's really more for Abbie but Sophie's having a great time with it too! Sophie has asked me to get her picture on it a couple of times.

The last few days it's been really hot but today we got a little break from the heat because it was cloudy. We also got a little bit of rain so we were able to get outside. When we came in, the girls had fun playing in the tunnels. Abbie was just adorable-so animated. She tries to talk more and more but we still can't understand her a lot of the time. The summer is almost over but we're trying to squeeze a couple more things in if we can!

Fun Times with Family

"the girls table"-Karina, Sophie, Ellie, & Gracie had fun eating together

Caleb has such a sweet smile!

Here are our girls with their Daddy!

Last week, we had fun celebrating Matt's birthday with my side of the family and with our immediate family. We went out to dinner at Outback with my family. Later in the week, we were excited to be able to spend time with some of my first cousins and their children. One of my cousins, Craig, and his wife, Megan, came in from Northern VA with their 3 kids. Our children are close in age and they don't get to see each other very often, so they had a great time! Thanks for hosting dinner for all of us, Jim and Linda!

A Night at the Fair

Does this set look familiar? This was in the kids farming area.

What a cute cow and pig!

I think I recognize that cow, pig, and sunflower. Do you?

It's Time for the Fair!

Matt & Sophie before we went into the Little One's Farming area

the 3 of us with the cute little barn set-up outside the kids area

Sophie's getting her corn and soybeans to feed to the "animals"

Sophie's collecting eggs

Sophie enjoyed going to the Williamson County Fair so much last year that she has looked forward to going back. We had promised her that we would go sometime. We decided to go on the Opening Night because Matt kind of wanted to hear the Alabama Blues Brothers perform. Since it was so hot and Abbie usually goes to bed pretty early, it ended up that my mom decided just to stay home and babysit Abbie. Sophie loved the bluegrass music last year even more than the rides. =) So, Matt & I took Sophie to the fair on Friday night. We were able to take her to the Little One's farming area and see some of the animals at the fair. At the Little One's farming area they get to see what collecting eggs, milking a cow, picking out vegetables, etc are kind of like. Then, at the end, they get to turn their produce in for some play money so that they can buy a treat. Sophie chose animal crackers over ice cream. Then, we went inside to the air-conditioned arena to watch a cool juggler perform and then on to hear the Alabama Blues Brothers perform. Even though I couldn't convince Sophie to take a nap that day, she was full of energy during the performance. Most of the time she was standing up dancing or jumping around (we were on the top row so it was OK). The Blues Brothers put on a good show but we didn't stay for all of it. As we were walking out to our car, Sophie could hear bluegrass music being played (her favorite thing from last year). Oh, well. Maybe another time.

Multi-talented Girls

Here's Sophie with all of her doctor gear. She looks so excited that if she were about to work on me, I might be a little nervous. (she looks pretty zainy here)

Sophie was having a great time directing a band here.

Abbie just enjoyed her first Oreo here and (of course) she loved it! =)

We've been busy around here lately. We've gotten to have a couple of playdates this week but I haven't been good about taking pictures. We've also busy getting ready for Matt's b-day which is coming up in a couple of days. Sophie helped me make a frozen Oreo cake so that is already done and ready to go (how nice). We had plenty of Oreos left over so I let Abbie try them. I know we're sheltered around here but I can't just buy stuff like that to have around because I would eat it. As you can see in the top picture, Sophie enjoys playing with her doctor's kit. One day it was pretty funny because both of our girls had their stethoscopes out and they were examining Matt. I really would be frightened if Abbie were my doctor.

Sophie's favorite song lately is "I've got the Joy, joy, joy, joy". I sing with the girls sometimes when we are driving across town because it's a good way to pass the time and keep them happy. Sophie has been requesting this song a lot and sometimes she has a whole line-up that she wants us to sing (usually a lot of them are church songs which is great). Anyway, sometimes I sing the verse that says, "I've got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart". Well, to a 4 year old, of course, it probably sort of sounds like gibberish because they don't know what you are talking about. Sophie, the other day, starts singing, I've got the "peaster pastor understanding down in my heart." I was trying not to crack up. Matt straightened her out later.

Some big news at our house is that I traded in my old mini-van which has held in there for a long time for a Mazda 5. My mini-van was really a blessing but the last couple of years we've known that it was just a matter of time before we needed to get something else. Four years ago my uncle, Walter, offered us the mini-van pretty much free of charge. I didn't know at the time how nice a mini-van can be when you have kids, have company from out of town, need to transport things, etc. Well, the van was still running and everything but the engine light has been on. We were able to trade it in with the "Cash for Clunkers" program which was great for us! The Mazda 5 is very sporty and they are calling it a micro mini-van. It's not as long as a mini-van and you don't sit up as high. I love having sliding doors though for getting kids in and out. It has two middle seats and two seats that you can use as a 3rd row when you need it. I told Matt that I'm going to have to pay a lot more attention to the speedometer because my new car has a lot more power than the mini-van did!

Family Fun Day

Abbie's got a bubble beard

Abbie had a wonderful time jump in the small bounce house!

Here's Sophie FINALLY getting her face painted. She waited in line for about 45 minutes! There was no talking her out of it!

Sophie has a funny look in this picture but she was really quite proud of the rainbow that she had painted on her cheek. This was the first time that she's ever had something painted on her face. In the past, she never wanted to do it!

It has been a quite rainy week here! This past Thursday, my friend Krista, had invited us to Family Fun Day in Franklin. They had a lot of bounce castles, face painting, different stations for the kids, a magic show, appearances from the Veggie Tales-Bob & Larry, etc. We decided to go and we met up with Krista and baby Dani there. The girls both enjoyed jumping in the bounce castles, Abbie enjoyed the bubbles, they met some characters (but were too shy to let me get their picture with Bob & Larry), won prizes, and Sophie (with some encouragement on my part at first) decided she HAD to get her face painted. It turned out that it took quite a while to get your face painted so I tried to talk Sophie out of it but I also didn't want her to have a major meltdown. I was hoping we could see the magic show but we missed it because Sophie was in line to get her face painted. At least, once she did get her face painted, she was really proud of it and seemed to love it! Krista was sweet to hang in there with us and take turns with me waiting in line with Sophie so that I could do some other activities with Abbie as well! We stayed a couple of hours and then left so that we could go eat lunch. It turned out that we left just in time because it started pouring outside. Most of the event was outside and it was actually a very pleasant morning!